


Our First Halloween

by Tamasha



Series: The Parties of Our Lives [2]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Boys' Love, Established Relationship, Gay, Halloween, Haunted Houses, Insecurity, Kissing, Love, M/M, Modern Era, Protectiveness, Relationship(s), Romance, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-28
Updated: 2015-10-28
Packaged: 2018-04-28 13:37:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5092742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tamasha/pseuds/Tamasha
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Merlin and Arthur have just started dating and they are attending a Halloween party thrown by one of their friends.  Both are eager to impress the other, but not quite comfortable with each other yet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Our First Halloween

**Author's Note:**

> written by Tamara and Natasha

The floor squeaked and made Merlin jump a little. He was still clutching tightly to Arthur's hand but luckily he didn’t let on that he had noticed Merlin’s sudden movement. Instead, he squeezed Merlin’s hand tighter as he moved on through the haunted house with a suppressed smile. It was dark; the shadows moved in and out of the crevasses, threatening to jump out and grab Merlin at any point. This wasn’t a very good idea. Haunted houses were Merlin’s least favorite thing. Well, least favorite after swimming. Swimming was the worst. But he was still at the point in the relationship where he wanted to impress Arthur, so when his boyfriend suggested a Halloween party with a haunted house Merlin felt that he had to agree.

"Was that a ghost?" Merlin felt his chest tighten as a tremor ran through his body.

Arthur pulled Merlin in so his arm was over Merlin’s shoulder, moving his hand up and down Merlin’s arm soothingly. "It's okay, do you want to go back?"

"No," Merlin squeaked pathetically.

Arthur let out a sympathetic chuckle and rubbed Merlin again. "You're pretty cute, you know."

"I -" Merlin started, but he was cut off with his own smile. Arthur was pretty great without even knowing it.

Without warning, a zombie jumped out, startling both men. Merlin may have let out something like a scream, but Arthur had the courtesy to ignore it. The monster snarled unattractively and Arthur... Arthur laughed. Merlin was trying to not shake as the zombie walked towards them growling. Arthur just pulled at Merlin’s hand and led him past the monster. As they passed, Arthur inserted himself between the zombie and Merlin, as a way to protect Merlin.

God, Arthur really was something sweet.

Once out of the haunted house, Merlin pulled Arthur in and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before releasing him again. "That was fun," he lied.

"You hated it." Arthur's smile betrayed him. He shook his head and pressed a kiss to Merlin’s head, then put an arm around Merlin and they walked like that, together, back to the party.

 

~~~~~~

 

Okay, so maybe a haunted house wasn’t the greatest idea. It seemed Merlin was pretty scared of almost everything, and he had cowered like a little kid, needing someone to hold him... which, of course, fell to Arthur. Therefore, Arthur was rather satisfied with events, though he did feel guilty for Merlin's sake. He wouldn't make Merlin do it again, but he could hardly regret it, as they walked together back to the party.

Dating Merlin was an entirely new experience for Arthur. His previous boyfriends had always been so independent of him, and with Vivian, back in high school, it was more of an alliance than a relationship. In high school, he had thought Vivian was the world, and he’d never want anything more, but he hadn’t really understood love until his first boyfriend. Edwin had not been ready for a new relationship after the death of his fiance, and Arthur had not discovered that until too late. Once Arthur had seen love that deep, he hadn’t really expected it for himself. He didn’t mind if his boyfriends had other friends or were busy all the time. He was immersed in school himself, and didn’t want to give up too much of his free time.

When he had met Merlin, he had fully expected more of the same. Merlin was cute and funny and he could carry on a thoughtful conversation about almost anything, so Arthur was certainly happy to date him. Right from the start, though, Merlin had texted Arthur a hundred times a day. He wanted to hang out, even if they were just parked on the couch while Arthur was studying. He was definitely what one would call “clingy”. Only, Arthur didn’t mind Merlin’s dependence. He liked it, really.

He liked being the one to protect Merlin from ghosts and zombies, and he liked that Merlin was stuck to his side like a burr even though he had friends at the party too. If he was completely honest with himself, Arthur had to admit he might already be getting slightly dependent on Merlin’s constant presence. It was early on in the relationship still, and Arthur was going to be very careful with this one, but he found himself imagining a future where he spent his life loving this odd, squeaky man.

Arthur stifled a chuckle as they rejoined the people milling on the lawn. “Let’s find some drinks,” he suggested and steered Merlin towards the house.

 

~~~~~~

 

Merlin sat cross-legged on the sofa across from Gwen when Arthur returned with two drinks in his hands. He wasn’t exactly looking at Merlin as he walked, just holding the drinks, hip bouncing slightly to the short synth solo in Tegan and Sara's Drove Me Wild. He was supposed to be dressed as a knight, but what he actually looked like was: guy-wearing-a-grey-t-shirt-and-holding-foam-ninja-turtle-sword. Merlin chuckled to himself.

He himself was dressed as a character who had thrown together the outfit as a last minute Halloween costume which ironically had taken Merlin four days to make himself. Merlin was in a red dunce hat and a blue cape that was thrown over his off-white button down shirt and suspenders. He was Wirt from Over the Garden Wall, but most people pinned him as a wizard. That frustrated Merlin because he had a wizard costume that was way better than the costume he was in now, but most people at the party were Arthur’s friends and hadn’t met Merlin before.

Arthur sat down next to Merlin on the couch and as soon as Merlin took the drink from his hand, Arthur placed it on Merlin’s knee. It was automatic, like he had done it 100 times before. He had done it before, it wasn't anything new, but being in public, having Arthur’s hand casually over his knee, made Merlin feel the excitement of this new relationship. He felt an undefined emotion spread through his chest making him grin unconsciously. Arthur glared at him. Well maybe it wasn’t a glare - he scowled? He just looked confused, and Merlin stifled his giggle in response.

"Thanks for the drink," Merlin whispered, close to his boyfriend's ear. "And thanks for being my knight in shining armor." Merlin offered Arthur a quick kiss on the cheek, but looked away before the blush rose on his cheeks.

Arthur rubbed Merlin’s knee idly as he talked to Gwen. When Merlin chanced another look back at him, Arthur was smiling.

 

~~~~~~

 

As he chatted with his various friends, Merlin was always by his side. He would chime in sometimes, and Arthur did his absolute best to keep paying attention to whomever they were talking to. Merlin was very distracting, though.

He sipped slowly at his drink, but his cheeks were turning slightly pinker than normal. His hair was never overly neat, which Arthur found endearing rather than annoying. And whenever he caught Arthur looking his way, he delivered a crinkle-eyed grin that unsettled Arthur's stomach in a pleasant way.

They were listening to Morgana prattle on about serendipity and their obvious destiny together, when Gwaine barreled up out of nowhere and nearly knocked Arthur over with his hug. As Arthur stumbled backward to steady himself, he lost Merlin’s hand, and he found himself scowling at his friend while he tried to extract himself. "Arthur!" Gwaine shouted belatedly.

"Yes," Arthur snapped. "It's me. Congratulations." He dusted himself off when Gwaine finally stepped away and looked him over.

"Come on, grumpy pants. It’s been ages since I've seen you!" Morgana snickered in the background and slipped away while Arthur pointedly did not look at Merlin. He didn’t need to see Arthur's blush. "What is your costume, anyway? I mean, I'll admit that you normally don't wear a t-shirt..."

"I'm a knight," Arthur said defensively. "My sword is around here somewhere..." He might have left it on the couch, he realized. Disgruntled, he remembered himself and gestured to Merlin, standing to the side and watching the exchange. "Gwaine, I want you to meet my boyfriend, Merlin."

Gwaine looked, surprised, and then scanned Merlin up and down appreciatively. "Very nice to meet you, Merlin," he said as Arthur grew tense.

 

~~~~~~

 

The look Arthur’s friend Gwaine was giving Merlin was a bit unsettling. Not that Merlin was embarrassed by forward men, it was just that this was Arthur's friend, and Arthur was right there. And well, Arthur didn’t seem very comfortable. This Gwaine guy, despite knowing Merlin was dating his friend, was far from subtle about his intentions. Which made Merlin nervous. He had dealt with blokes who had no boundaries before, and often they were hard to control. After the brief introduction, Gwaine took a step closer to Merlin, grabbed his hand, and kissed it, winking suggestively. Arthur grimaced, clenching his fists. In turn, Merlin simply nodded at Gwaine and pulled his hand back, glancing at Arthur subtly.

Gwaine seemed disappointed, but not too despondent. Merlin had a feeling that he'd be fighting off advances from Gwaine most of the night, something he was used to, but hadn't really expected to do. When Merlin and Arthur were left alone again, Arthur remained silent, not even acknowledging Merlin’s presence. "Hey," Merlin prodded, nudging Arthur gently. "You okay?"

"Hm," Arthur replied, still looking intently into his beer cup.

Merlin decided he didn’t want to push the subject. He figured Arthur was probably jealous, or maybe mad at Merlin for not saying anything to Gwaine, but either way, Merlin was not prepared to handle this situation with Arthur. He knew enough about Arthur to know that when he got upset, he really got upset, and Merlin had never felt equipped to deal with that kind of emotion before, so he thought it best to leave it alone.

"I'm going to step outside for a moment," Merlin informed Arthur as he stepped away.

He hadn’t gotten far when he heard Arthur call after him. "Merlin," he said, a bit desperate.

In that moment, when Merlin turned around to face Arthur again, he realized that not only did he want to reassure Arthur till the end of time that he had nothing to worry about with Gwaine, but also that Arthur wasn’t jealous or angry, he was just worried. Insecurity. Arthur - the bold, confident, blond athlete - was insecure. Merlin’s heart swelled with something akin to love in that moment and he found himself, for once, at a loss for words.

"Arthur," he muttered uselessly.

"I'm going to come out with you." Arthur took Merlin’s hand and led them out the door. Merlin followed, wondering if maybe he was wrong about Arthur, maybe he was upset. But Arthur wasn’t holding Merlin’s hand as if he were demanding a conversation, he was holding it as if he was begging Merlin to follow him. Something that Merlin found incredibly easy to do.

 

~~~~~~

 

Outside, Arthur wasn’t sure what to do. He just knew he couldn’t let Merlin go out like that, not without Arthur. He turned to look at Merlin, wondering how to erase the past few minutes, but Merlin just looked back at him. "Are you okay?" Arthur asked finally.

"Yeah," Merlin hummed. He seemed uncertain.

Arthur took a deep breath. "I'm sorry about Gwaine. He's really a good guy, but he isn’t very subtle and he doesn't have any sense of propriety. I should have said something, though. I know he can make people uncomfortable."

In fact, all of Arthur’s previous boyfriends had hated Gwaine. And Arthur had never really minded. Gwaine was Arthur’s best friend since childhood, and maybe they saw each other less now, but they would never stop loving each other. Boyfriends would come and go; Gwaine remained the same. Only now, there was Merlin. Not only did Arthur not want Merlin to go anytime soon, he actually wanted Merlin and Gwaine to get along. For the first time, he was okay with letting his boyfriend into his real life, but he was a little terrified they wouldn't mix well.

Merlin smiled gently and shrugged. "I really don't mind. He wasn’t so bad." Arthur took Merlin’s hands and turned his stunning boyfriend to face him. Without really meaning to, he leaned forward and kissed Merlin, letting their lips slowly graze and then deepening the contact. One of his hands slipped up Merlin’s back and twisted itself in his thick hair. Then, Merlin was licking his way into his mouth, making him mad for more and Arthur pulled away, disoriented.

"Well," he panted, eyes darting to the still-closed front door. "I guess we are okay." Merlin’s grin positively shone. "Let's save that for home," he suggested and Merlin rolled his eyes, but nodded. Arthur already knew that Merlin was far more comfortable with public displays than he was, but Merlin was also thankfully willing to humor Arthur.

He took another deep breath, this time trying to order his thoughts. Gwaine. Merlin liked Gwaine, or at least didn’t mind him, despite his stupid antics. Well, that was something. He would definitely have to speak to Gwaine - privately - and explain  himself. Gwaine was not above stealing Arthur’s boyfriend from one day to the next - it had happened before. But he would respect the relationship a lot more if Arthur went out of his way to tell him that Merlin was... Merlin was something different.

Not that that would stop him from flirting.

"Okay," Arthur said.

"Okay?" Merlin parrotted.

"We should get back to the party."

"Are you sure you don't just want to head home?" Merlin asked with a wicked smile. Arthur arched a brow. He wasn’t even sure whether Merlin was joking. Merlin was often very... forward like that. Merlin laughed. "Nevermind. Let’s go," he said, and gently tugged Arthur back inside the house.

 

~~~~~~

 

After another few hours spent on tedious socializing, Arthur finally agreed to go home. It was an unspoken rule that they always went back to Arthur’s flat, but Merlin really wanted to show Arthur all of his things. Plus, he had some interesting "toys" that Arthur was not familiar with that Merlin really wanted him to be familiar with. Arthur reluctantly agreed to go back to Merlin’s studio.

Once they had climbed the four flights of stairs, Merlin was regretting his decision slightly. Merlin’s flat was nowhere close to the same price range as Arthur’s, or really any person's, short of the homeless. He told himself Arthur wouldn’t mind, but each time he looked over at Arthur, the other man seemed tense. The building was old, yes, but it wasn't filthy. It was just worn down a bit.

The pink piece of paper caught Arthur’s eyes first. "What is this?" he asked, stepping forward to grab it before Merlin even had a chance to see it.

Arthur’s expression went from curiosity to horror in a second flat. "What is it?" Merlin sighed, attempting to rip it from Arthur’s hand.

Arthur moved it away from Merlin's grasp and continued reading. Then he looked up. "Do you..." he began, but then his face turned red and he let Merlin take the paper from his hand.

It was an eviction notice. Merlin should have guessed; he had seen enough of those in his day to know what one looked like. Living on his own since he was 16, Merlin had never really gotten ahold of the whole pay-your-rent-on-time thing. He hadn’t paid for the past four months and really it was a miracle his landlord hadn’t kicked him out yet. "Oh," Merlin said absently. "That sucks."

Crumpling the paper, Merlin pushed past Arthur and opened the door to his flat. It was still a mess. Merlin hadn’t expected it to clean itself or anything, but he had forgotten how bad he had let it get.

"Merlin?" Arthur's voice was quiet.  "Do you need some help?"

Merlin turned on Arthur immediately. "What do you mean?"

"Like..." Arthur rubbed the back of his head. "Financial help."

No. No fucking way. They had been dating barely a month. No way in hell was Arthur going to try and buy Merlin. "It's fine. I might need a place to stay, but I'll be fine."

"A place to stay?" Arthur echoed.

Shit. No, he couldn’t move in with Arthur, that was exactly what had gone wrong before, with Reid. Merlin was not about to ruin his great relationship with Arthur by moving too fast. "What? I mean, like if you know anyone who needs a roommate. Or a place I could stay. I didn’t - erm. Anyway, wanna see all my wizard cloaks?"

Arthur didn’t even bat an eye. "Gwaine needs a roommate." As soon as the words were out Arthur visibly flinched.

Live with Arthur or Arthur’s friend who had just spent half the night flirting with Merlin and making Arthur uncomfortable. Well, that was the worst decision ever. "I don't know, Arthur."

"He's living with a girl named Elena; you'd like her. They are most likely having sex, but she is still a good person. I just... I think it would help them out a lot."

"Okay," Merlin sighed, knowing his options were limited anyway. "But only because it will help them out."

Arthur smiled sadly. "Okay, good."

Even though it was Arthur's idea, Merlin had to wonder how comfortable Arthur was with the decision. He decided to worry about it later because he had other plans for the evening than worrying about the future.

 

**Author's Note:**

> We wrote this as one of the first parties Merlin and Arthur attended together, and also for the Halloween season! We hope you enjoy!


End file.
